Wednesday 10 August 2011 14.17 EDT
First published on Wednesday 10 August 2011 14.17 EDT

An attempt by Hamid Karzai to resolve the world's longest running and most bitter election dispute has backfired after the Afghan president issued a decree of such ambiguity that both sides claimed victory.

Baffled lawyers pored over the text, which simultaneously supports and undermines a controversial special court backed by Karzai, but damned as unconstitutional by many, that has called for a quarter of MPs in the country's parliament to be turfed out of office.

The stakes in the 11-month standoff between Karzai and the country's parliament have become higher since the president said was unhappy with last September's election result that diluted the strength of his fellow ethnic Pashtuns.

Various attempts have been made to overturn the results, including shambolic constituency recounts ridiculed by election watchdogs.

Those efforts have appalled foreign diplomats and sitting MPs, including an influential faction agitating for Karzai's impeachment.

So a decree published by Karzai's office on Wednesday looked at first blush like an extraordinary and abject climbdown by a mercurial president with a long record of defying the international community.

The Independent Electoral Commission's top electoral official hailed the decree as a proof that, after months of wrangling, the president was backing his organisation as the final arbiter of the results.

William Patey, the British ambassador, said the decree "provides the opportunity for the conclusion of the parliamentary crisis", adding he looked forward to the IEC "completing their work as soon as possible".

Simultaneously, however, a group of former MPs who lost their seats claimed the decree, in effect, ordered the IEC to enforce the special court's decision to replace 62 members.

That was because although the decree acknowledged the primacy of the IEC, it also said the "findings of the special court and appeal court must be applied by the IEC".

An Afghan lawyer who regularly deciphers government decrees said "the government is playing a trick" designed to force the IEC's hand.

The International Crisis Group interpreted the document as a "muddled and fumbling approach to find a compromise", whereby Karzai would agree to just a handful of MPs being evicted.

But ICG analyst Candace Rondeaux warned that Karzai is so weakened politically that parliament might refuse to accept even that.

"At this stage I just don't think Karzai has enough money [to bribe MPs] or political influence to get parliament to accept it," she said.

But if he fails to make any changes, Karzai will further alienate disgruntled powerbrokers who want to reclaim seats they regard as "theirs".